Play With Me
by Keeper-of-the-Cheese
Summary: Pictures of a boy at play, a man interrupted, and a villain at work.


A/N: OMG! _ANGST? _I'm writing angst? Really?...Well OK...If you insist.

This piece was inspired by the upper left corner of my bedroom ceiling. You may say thank you if you wish.

Disclaimer: I don't own Loki (yet) I don't own Thor (yet) Nothing you recognize here is mine...Dang.

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><p><strong>Play With Me<strong>

Loki sat on a bench outside the arena staring at his hands. His too small hands attached to his too small wrists, and his too small arms. At a mere eight-hundred years old, Loki already knew that he was indeed, small for his age.

With a sigh Loki rose to his feet and began the short trip back to the palace. He could hear his brother laughing from inside the hall behind him. He was sure Thor was still having a grand time with his friends, sparring, wrestling, playing...Having just reached his nine-hundred and thirteenth year, nobody could say that Thor was too small. He wasn't too small to hoist the sword that had made Loki stagger towards the ground. He wasn't too small to make use of the shield that Loki couldn't even roll from it's stand; And he wasn't too small to run across the whole of Asgard for hours on end with his older friends when Loki wasn't even invited.

Reaching the side door that lead into his mother's garden, Loki looked back longingly at the door that he knew hid adventures and friendships that he was too young, too small, too unlike Thor to dream of having yet.

Crossing the threshold into the garden, he spied his mother, attended by her ladies-in-waiting. As Loki drew near, Frigga turned towards him with that ever-ready smile he loved so dearly. When she saw the look in his eyes, her never-failing smile faltered. Loki stopped and lowered his eyes, ashamed that his mother could see how desperately he wished he were older, or stronger, or Thor.

"Oh, my son." Frigga whispered as she drew him into her arms. "Why do you look so grim?"

Loki looked at his mother. Whenever she asked him that, he always felt like the question was just a formality. She was Mother. Therefore, she knew what was wrong. But Loki still appreciated being able to express his feelings with words, even if they both knew it was unnecessary.

"Thor was in the armory with Sif and the others. They were pretending to be royal guards. I wanted to play too, but they said I was too young. But I wasn't too young! They just wouldn't let me try! So when they started fighting with some of the weapons in the shelves, I tried to pick up a sword and join them. But the sword I picked was too heavy and I started to fall backwards."

Loki stared at his mother with watery green eyes.

"They started laughing at me, Mother! I _hate_ it when they laugh!"

Frigga gently wiped the tears from Loki's face as he began to cry. Loki gave a shuddering breath and buried his head in his mothers shoulder.

"I just wanted to play with my brother."

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><p>Loki sat sprawled across a chair in the banquet hall. He was alone, save for a few servants several tables down, who were beginning preparations for tonights feast. Turning a page in the book he held, Loki tried to subtly stretch out the kink that was beginning to develop in his neck.<p>

Normally, the second prince of Asgard would not be found in the banquet hall (preferring to take his meals in his room) unless summoned by his father. To see him sitting in the back of the hall reading was almost unprecidented. But, today it was so.

Loki was beginning to be annoyed by the looks he was being given by the servants. The next time he felt their eyes on him he looked up from his book, arched his eyebrow in a way he knew looked condescending and said:

"Don't you have something better to be doing?"

The servants quickly averted their eyes and began staring at the dishes they were setting out with more intrest than was warrented.

Loki didn't bother to hide his smirk. That should give him another twenty minutes or so of uninterrupted reading.

Something crashed outside the door. At the sound of loud, boisterous voices coming his way Loki's smirk dropped faster then that undoubtedly priceless vase. He knew that the vase that had crashed formerly lived in the third alcove in the second section of hallway away from the doors of the banquet hall. Giving him exactly eighteen seconds to cast his teleportation spell before Thor and the Blunderers Three barged through the doors and began seriously encroaching on Loki's personal space.

"Well, he can't be nowhere, Fandral. That's impossible, even for Loki."

His brothers voice. It seems that they were searching for him. Joy.

"We've searched the grounds from top to bottom! From stable to spire! I tell you, if he doesn't want to be found, we won't find him!"

Loki wished he could agree, but lately Thor had been annoyingly persistent in his hunts for his sibling.

"Nonsense my friend! Why would Loki wish to hide himself from us? We simply haven't been looking hard enough."

The groan that followed was enough to tell Loki that Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun obviously disagreed with that statement.

Spell on his lips, Loki drew breath for the first incantation at the same moment the doors swung open and the first prince and his ever faithful companions swaggered in. Spotting Loki in the corner, Thor gave a laugh and shouted across the hall:

"Loki!"

Seeing that he had been spotted, Loki inhaled his travel spell and exhaled one that turned the glass of wine he had been sipping into something a bit stronger. Norns know he would probably need it.

Thor bounded across the hall like an excited puppy. Reaching his brother he happily plopped down in the chair next to Loki, giving a sigh and turning his smiling face to the younger prince.

"We've been searching for you for hours brother! We'd nearly given up hope you were still in the castle. Come! The day is still young, let us go see what adventures there are to be found in the forests!"

Loki straightened in his chair. Couldn't his brother see that he had better things to do then searching for trolls in the bushes?

"Thor, I don't.."

"Don't say no brother! We've got your horse saddled and ready."

"Thor.."

"We'll just make a stop by the armory to drag Sif away from her training..."

"Th.."

"...and we'll be on our way! We'll be back here singing songs of our battles before..!"

"THOR!"

Hearing his usually quiet brother raise his voice brought Thor up short. Loki gave his brother a look that said more then his next sarcasm-dripping sentence ever would.

"I have no desire to _play_ with you, brother!"

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><p>"Cap! <strong>DUCK<strong>!"

The wall behind the one the mortals called 'Captain America' exploded as a green bolt of energy from Loki's spear hit it. Loki silently cursed the armored one, and simultaneously blocked an arrow from the archer and twisted to avoid the shield thrown at him from the direction of the now demolished wall.

It had been nearly two years since his fall from the bi-frost onto earth. Two years of planning and plotting his revenge on his former 'brother' and Odin the liar. He gave a chuckle with no real humor behind it. The fact that they called _him_ a liar, while giving full justification to Odin for his misdeeds both galled and impressed him. One day he would show his 'father' how wrong he had been about Loki. Loki wasn't weak. Loki wasn't too small. Loki was powerful. Loki was better than Thor. Loki didn't need anyone else. Loki needed to focus.

A blast from the iron man grazed Loki's shoulder. Making the metal of his spaulder heat to a temperature that Loki was more then a little uncomfortable with. That was one of the only perks of being told the truth about his birth. Being a frost-giant gave him a true reason for why he had always been more aware of the heat then Thor had been. Knowing his true nature gave him feelings that were too complex to simply be labled 'anger' . But then, so had being know as the 'sensitive' prince.

Now he was above those feelings. Soon he would have the cube in his possesion. The Nine Realms would bow to the son they had abandoned.

Sending a spell straight into Iron Man's chest caused electricity to spark and fizzle across the red and gold plating of his suit. As the suit went dark and began to plummet towards the ground, Loki followed. Spear raised and ready to make the killing strike.

He was brought up short by a bolt of lightning cutting across the previously clear New Mexico sky.

Clouds began to roll in. Thunder crashed in the distance. The beginning of a magnificent storm.

Loki threw his head back and laughed. It seemed that Thor didn't find his little _prank _as amusing as he did. Perhaps using his influence on the male scientist to cause him to hold Thor's beloved Jane hostage was better classified as more of a test then anything, but really, if she had any plans to stay with Thor for the span of her pitiful mortal life she would have to get used to such treatment. The books by that 'Dr. Phil' person (that seemed to be the only reading material the scientist that occasionally changed into the green ogre kept around) were always saying that coming through conflict helped realtionships become stronger. He doubted Thor would see it that way, and Norns knew Loki thought that was a load of rubbish. But either way, that was his excuse, and he was sticking to it.

He could see the shape to his brother flying towards the battle. With a full storm raging behind him, he was the perfect picture of the thunder god he was. Loki smiled.

"_Come_, brother. Come play with me."

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><p>AN 2.0: So there you go short, sad. Not my usual style, but how do we grow if we don't step out of our comfort zones?

Reviews feed my fish. For heavens sake, THINK OF MY FISH!


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